Followed Your Lead
by SkyeWhite
Summary: "Kousei Arima. 15 year old male. According to witnesses, he got hit by a car when he pushed a little girl out of the way. Multiple gashes all over his body from the scattered glass shards. Lost a substantial amount of blood. Internal bleeding, several broken bones and possible serious head trauma." Kousei x Kaori. Rated T for character death.


"Kousei Arima. 15 year old male. According to witnesses, he got hit by a car when he pushed a little girl out of the way. Multiple gashes all over his body from the scattered glass shards. Lost a substantial amount of blood. Internal bleeding, several broken bones and possible serious head trauma."

The paramedic exhaustively explained the young pianist's situation to the people of the ER as they tried to hurriedly wheel him into the operating room. The unconscious Arima was desperately trying to be saved by the surrounding nurses and doctors as they sped through the cold hallways of Totsuhara General Hospital.

The doctor barked commands to the prep team of the OR as he kept pressure on the wounds to somehow decrease the bleeding. A nurse checked his pulse that was getting weaker by the minute. At this point, the Ambu bag over his mouth might be all that was keeping his lungs from giving up.

An IV was injected into his arm along with a blood transfusion. The anesthesia injection followed soon after. The breathing tube and ventilator were put into place. Electrode patches were attached to his chest to help monitor his heart rate and breathing. More were stuck to his head to measure his brain waves.

A resounding flick was heard as the surgical team slipped on their gloves and started working on Arima. Hours and hours of trying, literal blood, sweat and tears were shed still the EEG displayed a flat line.

"He's gone. Time of death, 11:25 p.m. Eastern time," declared the doctor ruefully, setting down his scalpel and wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Kousei Arima, piano prodigy, died at Totsuhara General Hospital, in the very same room where Kaori Miyazono died 2 months ago.

The red light of the OR turned green and everyone waiting all but lunged at the weary surgeon who came out to give them the bad news.

"I'm sorry. He already lost too much blood when they brought him in. There wasn't really that much fight left in him after that." The good doctor shook his head from left to right.

Screams and cries of agony and sadness were all that filled the hallway.

Takeshi and Emi were protesting against the new information. Demanding that the man go back and try to save Arima because they can't imagine going into another competition without seeing the fellow-prodigy eating his precious egg sandwiches as they waited.

Watari and Tsubaki were screaming hysterically as they imagined their best friend, their Kousei, lying unimaginably still on the other side of that door. Lifeless. Never to smile at them again.

Nagi and Seto-chan were sobbing and shaking uncontrollably in each other's arms as they imagined their teacher and student, pale and void of emotion. Never to be heard playing his enrapturing music ever again.

The doctor was just about to leave when he saw two familiar faces walk over to him, worry floating in their eyes. It was then that the doctor realized why the crumpled black spectacles, black hair and blue eyes were all too familiar to him. A scene from a few months ago suddenly came back to him.

 _"So which one is the boy you like, Kaori-san?" The good doctor asked with a smile._

 _"Black hair with blue eyes, Sensei. That's the one." She answered proudly as she struggled to stand up for her rehab. "I want to play with him one more time before I tell him. That's why I'm gonna work my butt off all day if I have to!"_

The owners of the quaint ma fille walked up to him with the same hint of recognition in their eyes. They remembered him. The man who operated on their daughter.

"Sensei, w-what happened?" Mrs. Miyazono stuttered, gripping her husbands arm tighter.

"The paramedics said that he got hit by a speeding car when he pushed a girl out of the way. He was hit at full speed and thrown many meters away. I'm sorry."

Everyone was quiet when he recounted the story. They'd all just gotten over Kaori's death and Kousei just had to go next.

"I-I think he didn't really have that much fight left in him to begin with. He probably wanted to see Kaori again so much that letting go of this life didn't matter seem like such a bad thing." The troubled surgeon hurriedly left the hall, blocking out all the gutted screams and cries of the people the two musical prodigies left.

Somewhere, at the same moment, Kousei opened his eyes and was greeted by a breathtaking blue scenery filled with stars and impossibly soft clouds. It took him a moment to remember what happened. He just finished watching a concert at the Towa Hall. The next thing he knew, he was pushing a young pianist out of the way of a rampaging car and everything went dark.

"Ugh. Where am I?" He got up and adjusted his glasses.

"Kousie?"

The young pianist tensed as he heard that voice say his name. Gulping, he slowly turned his head around to the sound of that sweet, melodic voice that he loved so much.

In front of him was Kaori Miyazono, gorgeous as ever, dressed in the white long gown she wore on their first performance, staring at him dumbfounded and confused.

He understood now, this wasn't another one of his dreams or nightmares. It was real. He was, there was no light way to put it, dead. He smiled sheepishly at her, scratching the back of his head.

"Hey. It got kind of boring after a while so I followed you here. You promised me we would play together again, remember?"

"You idiot!" She tackled him with a hug, wrapping her arms around his neck. He slid his arms around her slender waist and pulled her closer until the gap between their lips was zero. It was fervent, passionate, sad, hungry, but it was also breathtaking, lovely, awesome, and worthy of its own symphony.

He cried into their kiss as he felt her. Warm, real, alive, in his arms. He'd follow her anywhere. Even to death, albeit unconsciously.

"You didn't have to come so soon. I was prepared to wait for however long it took you. What about the others?" Kaori reluctantly cut their kiss short.

"I'm sure they'll be okay. They have each other." Kousei smiled at her.

"Dummy."

"I love you too."

With that, they started a duet that would last forever.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I'll probably improve this fic later on. Any suggestions are welcome.


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